Asian 20km Race Walking Championships 2023: Navy's Akshdeep Singh wins gold medal

Akshdeep Singh, SSR of the Indian Navy has won gold in the Asian 20km Race Walking Championships 2023 in Nomi, Japan on Sunday. The athlete from Punjab secured India's second gold medal after Olympian Gurmeet Singh in 2016. 

Also Read: Olympics 2024 Paris: Race walkers Akshdeep Singh and Priyanka Goswami qualify for 20km events

Meanwhile, Akshdeep recently created a new national record in the national championship and qualified for the Olympics 2024. Apart from this, Vikash Singh (F&A) and Paramjeet Bisht (GS) have also qualified for Olympics 2024 in 20 km race walk during the Asian 20km Race Walking Championships 2023. Vikash clocked 1:20:05 while Paramjeet clocked 1:20:08 in the men's open category. The Indian Navy has extended hearty congratulations and best wishes to all three athletes for this stupendous achievement.

At the same time, Priyanka Goswami bagged bronze in the women's category at the Asian 20km Race Walking Championships 2023. Akshdeep Singh and Priyanka Goswami had already qualified for the World Championships and Paris Olympics at the National Championships earlier this month. National record holder Akshdeep Singh clocked the timing of 1:20:57 to finish on top of the podium. Commonwealth Games 2022 silver medallist Priyanka Goswami, meanwhile, completed her race in 1:32:27 to finish third in the women's event.

On the other hand, India's Suraj Panwar and Hardeep Singh finished with timings of 1:22:31 and 1:25:38 respectively, in the men's race. Tokyo Olympian Bhawana Jat logged a time of 1:36:20 in the women's race. While her compatriot Munita Prajapati finished her course in 1:33:22.

Also Read: 2024 Paris Olympics: Bhowneesh Mendiratta becomes first Indian athlete to qualify for the next Olympics

With these medals, India's overall tally rose to nine (two golds, two silvers, five bronze) at the Asian 20km Race Walking Championships 2023. A total of nine Indian athletes - five men and four women - participated in the Championships. The 15th edition of the race, an annual race-walking competition for athletes representing countries from Asia. This was held after a hiatus of three years following the COVID-19 pandemic.